Tag: future

PREPARATION

There is always something fresh in Mark Batterson‘s writings. I love the insights in his little paperback titled, “In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day.”

In the first chapter Mark explains:
“I think the church has fixated on sins of commission for far too long. We have a long list of don’ts. Think of it as a holiness by subtraction. We think holiness is the byproduct of subtracting something from our lives that shouldn’t be there. And holiness certainly involves subtraction. But I think God is more concerned about sins of omission–those things we could have and should have done. It’s holiness by multiplication. Goodness is not the absence of badness. You can do nothing wrong and still do nothing right. Those who simply run away from sin are half-Christians. Our calling is much higher than simply running away from what’s wrong. When we don’t have the guts to step out in faith, God is robbed of the glory that rightfully belongs to Him.”

Wow!

It seems to me that it’s God’s plan to use us to build HIS resume.

Therefore there is always divine method in what we call chaos and failure; in fact, new life always begins in chaos (Have you every witnessed a live birth?). God is constantly connecting our dots, morphing our past experiences into preparation for HIS vision of our future, showing us the next chapter in HIS story.

Look back a minute. Those risky steps in your past were necessary to get you to where you are now. Even the steps of faith accompanied by failure and fear and doubt were part of the plan. God pieced it all together just to “take your breath away.”

Remember that passage from the ancient book? “The earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” God exists to hover over chaos. Darkness and emptiness are HIS raw materials. He hovers till the time is right to create something new and beautiful and good.

INSPIRATION

I was totally unaware, but on Saturday, January 19th 2002, the Spirit of God was hovering over my heart and holding my breath in his hands. At 7:38 in the morning it felt like an elephant was siting on my chest, but by that evening I had experienced three heart events and CODED three times.

My family was told that if I made it through the night, I might pull through. “He’s on the edge,” the doctor said.

At 11 am on Sunday morning I woke up, with what seemed like a 12″ pipe stuck down my throat, an endless number of wires connected somehow to my body, and a wide-eyed hospital staff eager to help. I am totally thankful for those gifted people, but I am most grateful for the hovering Spirit who never left.

Once the vent tube was removed and the events of the last 24-hours were explained to me, I was speechless. I laid in the hospital bed counting breaths and celebrating life. During those first few days, on more than one occasion, I awoke in the middle of the night feeling like I was floating somewhere between the chaos and an epiphany.

In the darkness of that room, I heard the call. “You’re not done yet. Now you are ready for what I’ve been preparing. You will love it.”

The Faith Coaching Network, Faith Notes, FaithFeatures, Story Collecting, BreakAway Minutes, Next/Gen faith coaching, and becoming a world-wide advocate for storytelling were all born out of God’s hovering Spirit.

Four years after the by-pass surgery I went in for my annual heart check and the doc wrote, “Something EXTRAORDINARY here. Four years ago patient’s lower right quadrant functioned at 37%. Now it’s at 47%.” Extraordinary?

It’s God’s story! And the Spirit is still hovering.

MOTIVATION

Has a hovering Spirit helped you find new life in the middle of chaos?

Do you know how each moment, the good, the bad, and the ugly, have all been used by God to prepare you for HIS next chapter in your life?

It’s a faith step: Step out expecting God to bring new life out of chaos.

Then, listen for something extraordinary! After all, you are part of God’s resume.